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The Arts of Ares
For centuries, great warriors have looked to nature and the multiverse to find inspiration in battle. Countless monastic and contemplative orders have crafted intricate unarmed fighting styles based on the deadliness and grace of natural and supernatural creatures. Although many such fighting techniques were created by secretive orders, they have since spread to practitioners the world over. At least that's what they think of unarmed martial arts styles. Weapon martial art styles are developed during the training of soldiers, and they tend to get more sophisticated over time. In the Hellenistic Era in which Phaeselis is set, there are several weapon arts available and the Masters that teach such weapon arts are often thought of as Virile, or especially blessed by Ares, the God of War. The Weapon Arts are arranged from the familiar to the more fantastic. The effort of codifying Weapon Styles is to give the Style Feats in Ultimate Combat some balance. Rules As a swift action, you can enter the stance employed by the fighting style a style feat embodies. Although you cannot use a style feat before combat begins, the style you are in persists until you spend a swift action to switch to a different combat style. You can use a feat that has a style feat as a prerequisite only while in the stance of the associated style. For example, if you have feats associated with Mantis Style and Tiger Style, you can use a swift action to adopt Tiger Style at the start of one turn, and then can use other feats that have Tiger Style as a prerequisite. By using another swift action at the start of your next turn, you could adopt Mantis Style and use other feats that have Mantis Style as a prerequisite. The weapon styles presented follow, along with specific feat paths—feats that complement each style. Starting with the familiar and going to the fantastic. Real World Styles 'Hollywood Stage Swordsmanship' Staged swordfights are the most recognizable form of fighting from the Swashbuckling era of Hollywood's Golden Age. Developed to please crowds when they go see a historical film, these choreographed techniques are shown on screen and are the inspiration for a multitude of onscreen swordfighting. This style is the basic weapon art we are most familiar with and can cut across time periods. It's become a timeless art. Feat path: Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint 'Hollywood Stage Art of Defence' Things get complicated when you want to do a swashbuckling movie with rapiers and you want to simulate rapier fighting on screen. Fortunately, the Arte of Defence is also timeless, as fencing was done with bronze age rapiers as well as with Renaissance ones. Although the expression of the Hollywood version is more arty in it's choreography and requires a different feat path. The fencing is based on the Spanish school most likely. Feat path: Weapon Finesse, Power Attack, Intricate Swordplay, Dazzling Display 'Hollywood Stage Tai Chi Jian' the Chinese style of Fencing, the hollywood version gets very mobile and powerful. This is the sort of weapon art you see in Hero ''especially the green fighting scene where Broken Sword does battle with the Emperor Chin Huangdi Shi, the first Emperor of China. The fencing is based on actual Tai Chi Quan using the Jian. Feat path: Weapon Finesse, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Whirlwind Attack, Intricate Swordplay 'True Tai Chi Jian Wudan' A weapon art from China, with the use of the Jian, true Chinese Fencing is about overpowering the enemy over acrobatics. Although still choreographed for film, in the above piece, the art is about defending yourself and beating your enemy. Feat path: Weapon Finesse, Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility 'True European Swordsmanship' True European Swordsmanship is actually from the Greek School in this time period. People in Ancient Greece actually did have swordsmanship techniques. While choreographers still used the French School to recreate the fencing techinques, the techniques did exist. Feat Path: Weapon Focus, Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Dazzling Display, Hero's Display Fantasy Styles This is a list of fantasy styles that can appear in the game. Before that, a video on Hack-and-Smash swordsmanship. 'Pelagasiri Elven Swordsmanship' Pelagasiri Elven Swordsmanship is based on LOTR's choreography. Still, it's based on the ''French School. ''Despite that, this Elven Swordsmanship would be graceful, and also be intricate in its application and style. The elves would have a combination of Wudan (above) and European Arte of Defence. Feat Path: Weapon Focus, Weapon Finesse, Combat Expertise, Dazzling Display, Dramatic Display 'Massalian Elven Swordsmanship' Massalian Elven Swordsmanship is based on the response of environment that the Elves found themselves in. Around barbarians that practiced Hack 'n' Smash with their axes and their swords, the Massalian Elves decided to demonstrate some manners while holding off the barbarians, forest trolls, and who knows what else. Massalian Elven Swordsmanship is a dance, a theatric display. Feat Path: Weapon Focus, Weapon Finesse, Combat Expertise, Intricate Swordplay 'Olivaen Elven Swordsmanship' Olivaen Elven Swordsmanship is based on the Soulknife's mindblade. Light, effective, highly energetic, Olivaen Swordsmanship is based on Star Wars' Ataru style. Still based on the French School (of course), the style is beautiful to behold, a masterwork of Acrobatics. Although spinning is not something one should do (spin, and you take your eyes off your enemy, giving him your back), the form includes sommersaults, cartwheels, and the proper way of recovering from a fall. Feat Path: Skill Focus: Acrobatics, Weapon Focus (Mindblade), Dodge, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint 'Orcish Swordsmanship' '''Hack-n-Smash' ''or ''Grog Smash! is probably what you think of when you hear the words "Orc" and "Swordsmanship" together. The orcs would have a barbaric way of fighting their enemies. However, orcs are much more cunning than that when devising their arts. Besides throwing pies (pie fighting is a high art to the orcs), orc combat with their wickedly crafted blades includes a number of feints, stabs, thrusts, and parries. It isn't all about Grog Smash!. '' Feat Path: Weapon Focus, Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, Dodge 'Heron Dancing on the Wind' A human combat style, ''Heron Dancing on the Wind is an attempt to recreate elven swordsmanship with a human flair of style. It's a graceful combat art that could be best on stage if it wasn't so deadly. The aim of "Heron Dancing on the Wind" is about using graceful sword strikes in a circular motion in order to build up momentum during the fight. It's about using the kinetic energy of a parry and redirecting that energy against your foe. The sword art is a fencing art first and foremost. Feat Path: Weapon Focus, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, Dazzling Display 'Orcish Axemanship' Okay, now its Grog Smash! ''Orcs and their axes is all about delivering a powerful blow. It's about breaking your enemy's shield apart and smashing into his armor to do great damage. While the humans have a similar style with their axes, the art of Warfare practiced with axes have allowed the orcs to hone this to a high art. An orc with an axe is a deadily opponent. They are coming at you with full force, using their momentuum to strike you hard and fast with their axe in order to break bones and to crush armor. Feat Path: Weapon Focus, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun 'Lizardman Spearmanship' The lizardmen commonly use spears, instead of their signature Falchion. They attack, usually with speed and force, with their spears and their bites. The style is to intimidate your enemies and to put fear into them. Lizardmen have a fearsome appearance, so its natural that they would use that to their advantage. The spears they carry are for thrusting and they are usually trained to dodge attacks. Feat Path: Skill Focus: Intimidate, Weapon Focus, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun 'Litorian Swordsmanship''' The fighting of the Leonids is all about disarming your foe. The Leonids are highly evolved next to the humans and do not seek to fight to kill, they want to disarm their opponents as much as possible in order to prevent them from fighting. Sometimes, though, they are forced to kill. Litorians are compassionate creatures, the lion-like humanoids do their best to make sure that no one dies in war, since they have faced many wars with many otherworldly enemies. Feat Path: Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm, Weapon Focus, Power Attack, Improved Sunder Category:Weapon Arts